Vernam cipher based method of protection for data transferred between unmanned aircraft and ground control station

摘要

The paper deals with questions of protection against unauthorized access to the data transmitted between unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV) and ground control station (GCS). This is due to the fact that standard instruments of network security sometimes provide security of not enough proper level or do not satisfy the restrictions connected with the features of UAV: limited computing resources of the UAV on-board computer and real-time operation. We have offered to use Vernam cipher (one-time pad) as an additional measure for data protection. Vernam algorithm combines such advantages as theoretically proved absolute cryptographic security, ease of implementation, high speed of encryption and low processor load. It is especially important for large volumes of data encryption (e.g. video information). Within the bounds of experimental researches the technique is used based on cryptographic gamma of block cipher GOST 28147-89 in the Cipher Feedback Mode for a one-time pad generation. Application of Vernam cipher means the deletion of used one-time pad pages. The replacement of used one-time pad pages by cipher text is proposed for assurance of the above-named requirement and for simultaneous computer memory saving. It gives additionally the opportunity not only to save key sequences but also to accumulate encrypted data in the on-board computer memory. Realization of the offered method allows increasing the data protection level without engaging large computing power and memory capacity.